Do Your Friends Stress You Out? A Field Study of the Spread of Stress Through a Community Network

Shihan Li, David Krackhardt, Nynke M.D. Niezink

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this study, we seek to understand how stress changes in dynamic social systems. Where prior work on the interpersonal transmission of stress focused on pairs of individuals and small groups, we adopt a network perspective to investigate how the distribution of stress in an individual’s social environment influences their stress appraisal process. We conducted a 6-month longitudinal study of 315 early to midcareer adults in professional master’s programs as they encountered the stress of everyday academic life. We follow the dynamics of the participants’ networks and their concomitant stress at four key time points during those 6 months. We find that the perceived stress of one’s social contacts affects their experience of stress in this setting. Yet, not everyone is equally susceptible to this social influence. In particular, we find that social influence is substantially amplified under conditions of relative consensus among one’s social contacts. Also, a low level of neuroticism, a high level of conscientiousness, and a high level of internal control orientation help buffer the transmission of stress.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)100-116
Number of pages17
JournalJournal of Personality and Social Psychology
Volume125
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 12 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 American Psychological Association

Keywords

  • consensus
  • social influence
  • social networks
  • stress

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Psychology
  • Sociology and Political Science

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